Standing Up
by NaLu-always
Summary: They were all hurt. They were all broken. They all thought they were alone. But then they found each other, and they soon formed something amazing together. A oneshot inspired by the way of Fairy Tail. Modern AU.


Wendy didn't understand.

Why were they so mean to her? She never did anything to them. They just pushed her around. The people who stood there would just laugh and encourage the people who pushed her around.

People were too afraid to talk with her. They thought she would cause them to get bullied too. Nobody would be her friend.

So Wendy became lonely, for no reason at all.

Why couldn't she do anything?

Why didn't she do anything?

Why was she so _weak?_

* * *

Natsu didn't understand.

What was wrong with his hair? Sure it was pink, but it didn't mean anything.

Everyday, he walked down the halls to school people would laugh and point fingers at him. They would call him names like 'gay' and 'fag' and 'homo' just because his hair was pink. He hated it.

He tried to dye it a different colour, but blonde would show the pink at the roots and brown looked terrible on him. After those two attempts, he couldn't afford anymore hair spray; he was an orphan after all. He needed to save for his apartment that he rented.

When he went anywhere public, people would stare and point. Kids around his age would beat him up for it, laughing.

But his deceased father had taught him.

He taught him to be proud of who he was and he taught him not to resort to violence.

But even so, why were they so _mean?_

* * *

Erza didn't understand.

Why was she trapped here? She was only eight, she didn't deserve this. Nobody did.

But they were taken anyways.

They were taken to the Tower of Heaven. A tower only heard in myth that was secretly built to hold supreme weapons.

But it was only half done.

And it was being built by innocent people who didn't want to build it. Children, elderly, teenagers, adults, anyone the evil people here could grab, they forced to build this tower.

Erza and her friends were trapped here.

They couldn't escape; the tower was surrounded by water. Guards patrolled, and even if they tried, they would surely get hungry, as the only food around here was scraps from meals that their captors ate.

Not that you would get any.

If you were lucky, or there was too much, they'd drop some food and people would fight each other to grab just a tiny little piece.

And their work was constantly being doubled or even tripled due to the many deaths of people trying to escape or starvation.

The guards had no trouble beating the living daylights out of you, force you to work extra hours and lock you in a solitary cell.

In fact Erza was convinced they enjoyed it.

Erza sighed; she just _needed a little help._

* * *

Gray didn't understand.

He was older now; he was stronger and wiser, so why did the past continue to haunt him?

The terrible past, where everything was his fault.

He didn't mean to. It started with his town, it was destroyed and wrecked. Everyone was killed because of some terrorists named 'The Deliora'. They burned everything and killed everyone.

They killed Gray's mother and father. But it was still his fault.

They killed his mother and father because he was trapped. His mother found him and jumped into the flames to grab him. His father came and distracted the terrorists. His mother told him to run and escape.

And he did. He ran so fast, the winter snow blurred his vision.

Gray ran until he collapsed.

A woman named Ul took him in. She helped him learn and taught him a few tricks to get out of tricky situations.

Gray lived with her and someone else named Lyon for two years. During those two years Gray was happy. He was still traumatized by the death of him parents and the wreckage in his village, but he was content.

Until The Deliora struck again.

This time, they took Ul.

 _It's your fault Gray, all your fault…_

Gray flashed open his eyes and realized that he was breathing heavily. He had the nightmare again. The one that wouldn't go away.

It took him seven years, but he realized, he was _afraid_.

* * *

Lucy didn't understand.

Why was he, her own father, so cold to her? He would yell at her whenever she came to him, they rarely talked and when they did, it would end in him angry and annoyed.

They didn't even eat dinner together.

He would just lock himself in his office. And that made Lucy sad.

He wasn't always like this, when her mother was alive, he was the kindest happiest person in the world. He would give her big hugs and always be happy whenever Lucy came up to him.

But when her mother died, he grew cold.

He ignored her he forgot about her. He forgot about today, her birthday. He didn't even care.

The maids were too scared to get friendly. One unfortunate maid tried to comfort Lucy one night. Her father overheard and fired the maid the next day.

Lucy just wanted someone to reach out their hand and smile and say "Hey, are you okay?"

But nobody would.

Lucy cried in her room. She was _lonely._

* * *

Natsu walked down the street with his hands over his ears and looked down.

He knew this would happen. It always did.

People would stare at him like he was a freak show. Others would point at him and snicker. And if worst came to worst, people would call him names and beat him up.

Oh why did he decide to go outside?

Natsu started to pick up his pace and clamped his hands tighter over his ears. He looked up, only to make sure he was walking the right way, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.

He opened the door to a café called the Fairy Tail Café.

Everyone stared at him.

Natsu looked around for a table, trying to ignore the stares and laughter. All of them were full except for one table. It was fit for five.

Natsu was reluctant. Not only would he be taking up precious space in this ever-so popular café, but also, how would people judge him? He was a pink haired freak-who could quite possibly be gay in their eyes-that was sitting alone.

They would definitely judge him.

But Natsu, against his better judgment, decided to sit there. People started to get louder and laugh without shame. People were pointing and taking pictures, likely going to post it online.

As Natsu sat down, he rested his head onto the table. He covered his ears to block out the sound. He didn't want this; they were all still so _mean_.

But one voice broke through.

"You shouldn't let what people think and say bring you down."

Natsu looked up, he didn't take his hands off of his ears, but he looked up.

It was a pretty blonde haired girl. She was smiling, but Natsu knew that it was hiding something. Without noticing, Natsu took his hands off of his ears.

"May I sit here?" the girl asked. Natsu nodded and lay his head down, but he didn't cover his ears.

She was right. Maybe it was the right choice to sit here.

Lucy looked at the poor boy. He obviously didn't like it; he was being treated like an animal in a zoo. People were taking pictures, laughing, calling him offensive names. It was terrible.

He was a little like her, just a little.

"Excuse me, there are no other seats here, may I sit with you?" a strong voice asked.

Natsu and Lucy looked up to see a red head at their table.

"Sure," Lucy responded immediately. She looked over the pink haired boy, "Is that alright with you…" Lucy realized she didn't ask him for his name.

"Natsu," the boy responded quietly. "I don't mind," he answered for himself.

The red head nodded and took a seat at their table.

"I'm Erza, you are?" the red head named Erza asked. "I'm Lucy," Lucy replied.

Erza looked around the full restaurant. People were laughing at something as they pointed to their phones. Others were just laughing because of something that their friends said. Their table was the only one that wasn't laughing.

A little bit of blue appeared at the door. Erza quickly looked at it. _Jellal?_ She thought to herself. But Erza immediately dismissed the idea.

The figure was too short to be Jellal; he was tall and would most definitely stick out. The blue was a darker shade than Jellal's and besides, blue was a popular colour of hair these days.

But the thing that made Erza sure that it wasn't him was the fact that she left them there. At the tower, she abandoned them and managed to escape.

Erza put her head in her hands, trying to stop the crying. She heard a chair scratch the floor. Erza looked up to see Lucy walk towards the blue hair.

It was a little girl and she was crying.

"Why don't you just sit down, okay? No one will hurt you here, I promise," Lucy smiled at the girl.

Natsu looked at Lucy, she was really nice and understanding. She was helpful and caring. Surely you couldn't just be like this right? Something must've happened.

"O-okay…" the little girl replied, she rubbed her eyes and took a seat at the now full table. "Thank you, miss," she said quietly.

The little girl felt a tap on her shoulder. It was a strange pink haired boy, he wasn't crying, but he looked like he wanted to.

"Here, drink this," he gave her some water.

"Thank you mister…" the little girl took the water and drank a little bit from it.

There was quiet at the table. No one talked, nobody interrupted them and the frenzy of Natsu's hair from before seemed to have died down. It was almost peaceful.

Almost.

All of them had something negative running through their minds. No matter how far away it seemed, or how ridiculous, it was going through their heads.

That was until a voice broke their silence.

"Excuse me, may I sit here?" a voice asked. They all looked up. A raven-haired boy who was panting looked down at them. Shirtless.

"Um, mister, why don't you have a shirt on?" the little blue haired girl asked.

"Crap! Not again, excuse me," the boy went off around the crowd. Some girls were eyeing him, while the other males-especially those sitting with girls-were giving him a death stare.

In five minuets the boy returned with his shirt on. "Sorry about that, um, so can I sit here?" he asked again.

"Sure," the red head replied. Nobody objected, so the boy sat down.

There was an awkward quiet at their table. It was full, but nobody knew each other. They were all strangers. It was indeed very awkward.

"Well, why don't we go around and say our names and something we like?" the red head suggested.

"Okay," everyone said monotonously.

"I'll go first, I'm Erza Scarlet. I like kendo," the red head looked to the girl next to her.

Unbeknownst to Erza everyone seemed to slightly back away from her.

"I'm Lucy Heartfillia. I like reading," the blonde said to the group.

"You read?" the raven-haired boy asked.

"Well yeah…" Lucy said confused.

"Like, why don't you just watch the movie? It's a lot easier," the boy asked.

"I prefer books, they give you lots of information, and while they may seem to take longer, they are worth it, besides if you keep on reading, you get better," Lucy rambled.

"Nah, movies are better," the boy argued.

"Books!"

"Movies!"

"Books!"

"Movies!"

"Books!"

"I think movies are better," a voice peeped through their small debate. It was Natsu.

"Whatever, we should continue on with the whole, 'going around and saying something' what about you?" Lucy asked the small girl.

"Um, I'm Wendy Marvell and I like my cat…" Wendy said shyly.

"What's its name?" Natsu asked.

"Charle," Wendy replied.

Natsu smiled, "Nice, I have a cat too, his name's Happy."

The other boy snorted, "What kind of name is Happy?"

"A better one than you can come up with!" Natsu retorted.

"You wanna go?" the raven-haired one asked.

Natsu stood up giving Lucy a fine view of his toned chest and abs(for some reason, he was wearing only a vest) she couldn't help but blush a little.

"Hell yes!" Natsu replied. He was about to punch Gray when a hand caught his fist and turned it.

"Ow!" Natsu quickly pulled away his hand and held it to his chest.

"We are in a public restaurant. We do not fight. The name is fine," Erza glared at both of the boys.

Natsu sat back down, but the other boy laughed, "What a wimp, that hurt? Ha!" he pointed at Natsu.

Erza, extremely insulted, promptly punched him in the gut.

"Oof!"

Erza glared at him.

He immediately sat back down.

"Um, mister, it's your turn," Wendy looked up at the raven-haired boy who was holding his stomach.

"Right, I'm Gray Fullbuster. I like winter," he smiled.

"You like winter?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, I'm a great snowboarder and it's fun to have snowball fights," Gray answered.

"Nah, summer's better. You can swim and there's no school," Natsu argued.

Gray tried to speak, "Yeah, but-"

"And there's no school," Natsu repeated. He was very supportive of that point in his agreement. It meant that he didn't have to face all the people who thought he was gay, and it meant he didn't have to do much in public. He could just chill in his apartment.

It was then Natsu noticed that none of them were laughing at his hair. No one was asking if he was gay either. They were treating him like he was normal.

And he was, wasn't he?

"Oh well, it's your turn anyways," Gray sighed in defeat.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel. I like dragons," Natsu said with a confidence that Lucy didn't even know he had when she first spotted him being picked on.

Gray snorted again, "Dragons? What are you? Five?" he started laughing again. Erza "lightly" hit his shoulder and glared at him, he immediately shut up.

"I like dragons too!" Wendy smiled at Natsu.

"Ehh, I'm more of a fairy person," Lucy admitted.

"I think woman warriors are extremely inspiring," Erza stated.

"Wizards are better than all of yours!" Gray grinned and shot a competitive glare to Natsu.

"See, I'm not the only one that's five!" Natsu exclaimed.

* * *

And from there, friendship bloomed.

They learned about each other over the weeks, months and years.

They learned that they all came to the Fairy Tail Café for similar reasons.

For Natsu, when the name calling became too much, Wendy when the bullies started to follow her online, Erza when the flashbacks of the past came back, Gray when the nightmares were becoming more and more realistic and Lucy when she was feeling more lonely than ever.

And over time, they started to heal each other. Their scars never went away, but they closed.

They all became close friends, with their similar experiences, and though people thought they were crazy, they understood each other.

They understood that Wendy hated dried plums. They understood that Gray had a stripping problem. They understood that Lucy took two hour baths and showers They understood that Natsu was a pyromaniac and loved spicy things. And they understood that Erza would collect weapons and armor that could still be used.

They didn't mind Natsu's odd hair colour and they respected Erza and Gray's past. They didn't push Lucy for questions when certain days came around and they ensured that sweet, innocent Wendy didn't get pushed around anymore.

They had the tightest bond you could possibly imagine.

And nothing could break it.

* * *

The group was walking around town. Lucy and Wendy heard that a new mall was opening in Magnolia, and Erza heard that in the mall there was a bakery. Natsu and Gray were dragged along.

As they walked past a park, they saw it.

It was a little boy with dark hair, around Wendy's age.

He was being picked on.

Five older boys surrounded him. They pushed him around, he was crying about something and trying to fight back, but he couldn't. Instead they pushed him to the ground.

They were saying things to him that made his innocent eyes widen. People were watching him, of all ages, but nobody helped him.

He was _weak_ against them, and they were being _mean_. He just _needed a little help_. He was _afraid_ of what they were saying. And he was _lonely_.

Natsu and Gray clenched their fists, and Erza glared at the three boys, even though they couldn't see her. Wendy looked at the poor boy in pity, as did Lucy.

The boys were the first to act.

"Hey," Gray tapped one of the guys' shoulders. "You shouldn't be picking on little kids." Gray cracked his knuckles.

"I agree, pick on someone your own size," Natsu stood next to Gray.

"I don't know if you can take us, _girlie_ ," one of the guys said. The others laughed at Natsu's hair.

"Your hair is strange too mister," Wendy looked up at the boy who made fun of Natsu.

"She has a point," Erza came up to them. She looked annoyed, so annoyed in fact, she slapped the guy who insulted Natsu.

Natsu punched another one in the face while Gray kicked one in the stomach. Wendy looked up sweetly at another one before kicking him in the balls and Lucy slapped one extremely hard.

It then went downhill for the five guys to picked on the little boy.

Erza somehow managed to knock a guy out cold, Lucy kicked a guy towards his body and he tripped over his friend. Before he could move Wendy's attacker hopped over, holding his crotch, and fell on top of the two boys.

Meanwhile, Gray and Natsu were fighting. Both of them grabbed their opponents' head and bashed them together, they were completely knocked out.

The little boy looked at them amazed.

However, Natsu and Gray started fighting. Erza jumped into it, attempting to break it up, however, the fight only grew. Wendy tried to calm all of them down, but failed as Erza managed to push Gray over so much so he pushed Wendy into a bush.

Lucy walked over and away from the fight towards the boy.

She smiled and held out her hand, "Hey, are you okay?"

 **Okay, this must've been reaaaaallly confusing, so here's something to clear it up.**

 **First of all, in everyone's little 'intros' they were different ages.**

 **Wendy was about 5. Lucy was about 8. Gray was 15, in the nightmare, he was 8. Erza was 8. Natsu was 15**

 **After, once Natsu's going to the café, everyone is their age that they currently are in the Manga.**

 **You may have to re-read this. But I put a lot of heart into this. I'm sorry if I've somehow insulted gay people, but you guys should be proud of who you are. There's nothing wrong with it. I hope you all enjoyed this one-shot!**

 **If you've any questions, don't hesitate to ask! Thanks for reading! Sorry for any mistakes!**


End file.
